Thornies were the quadrupedal offshoots of Vegepygmies, spawned when russet mold consumed the body of a Beast rather than a Mortalkind. Unlike the smaller, tool-using vegepygmies, thornies resembled animalistic predators built for endurance and brute force. Their bodies were covered in sharp barbs that tore into any creature that tried to grapple them, and their thick, plant-like hides made them far tougher than their bipedal kin. While they lacked the cunning of full-grown vegepygmies, they compensated with raw physical strength, speed, and an instinctive drive to protect their tribe.
Thornies served as beasts of burden, hunters, and shock troops for vegepygmy bands. Too dim to wield tools or form tactics, they relied on their natural weapons and resilience in battle, often being loosed first to weaken or scatter foes before vegepygmy hunters closed in. Their behavior mirrored that of loyal animals, and they lived in close partnership with the tribes that spawned them. Though they shared the same fungal origins as vegepygmies, their animal-like forms and diminished intellect marked them as a separate caste.